Season 1, Episode 10

In the years following the First World War the citizens of London, Ontario raised local memorials to honour the generation who served in the war. Built in 1934, the most prominent local structure is the Cenotaph located at Dufferin Avenue and Wellington Street, but few Londoners are aware of its complicated and intriguing history.

This last episode of the RCRM Speakers Series - Season 1 features Katrina Pasierbek, a PhD Candidate in History at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, ON. Katrina has taught myth, memory, and public history courses at Laurier and King's University College at Western University. An educator both inside and outside the classroom, Katrina also leads overseas battlefield tours of First and Second World War sites across England, Belgium, and France. Before enrolling at Wilfried Laurier, Katrina was a Public Programmer at our museum and today she will be talking about a familiar feature to London's residents: The Cenotaph at Victoria Park.

Contributors:

Mark Vogelsang
Katrina Pasierbek
Georgiana Stanciu
The Royal Canadian Regiment Museum

Season 1, Episode 9

Doctoral candidate Heather Ellis shares her investigation into the circumstances of Andrew Buttery's death, who was bludgeoned by a psychiatric patient on 9 June 1933, at Westminster Hospital, currently known as Parkwood Institute in London, ON. Following the unfortunate event, the Department of Pensions and National Health initiated an inquiry. Heather has researched hospital archives and will try to answer legitimate questions arising from this story.

Heather completed her Honours BA at the University of Toronto in 2012 and her MA in History at the University of Waterloo under the supervision of Dr. Geoffrey Hayes in 2016. Her dissertation, "Aftershocks: The Psychological Cost of the Great War", explores how shell-shocked veterans were cared for by family members, medical practitioners and the government.

Contributors:

Mark Vogelsang
Heather Ellis
Georgiana Stanciu
The Royal Canadian Regiment Museum

Season 1, Episode 8

One hundred years after the discovery of the insulin, Sir Frederick Banting continues to be remembered from the perspective of a singular moment in time, the image of himself with Charles Best and a dog on the rooftop of the University of Toronto Medical School. But, like any other story, that representation is neither the beginning, nor the end of his contributions to Canadian science and innovation. For episode 8 of the RCRM Speakers Series, Grant Maltman will introduce the other facets of the complex personality that was Sir Frederick Banting.

Grant Maltman, Curator of Banting House National Historic Site of Canada, is a graduate from The University of Western Ontario with more than 30-year experience in the cultural resource management and heritage presentation field. His journey started at the local Banting Secondary School when, as a student, he presented the Canadian Diabetes Association with a cheque from the student body for the development of the Banting House Museum. Ten years later he became the museum's first paid employee and has served as the curator of Banting House National Historic Site of Canada for the last 28 years.

Contributors:

Mark Vogelsang
Georgiana Stanciu
Grant Maltman

Season 1, Episode 7

In Exhibition Place near the heart of downtown Toronto, surrounded by a sea of concrete parking lots and modern buildings, an imposing but incongruous-looking mid-19th century structure stands its ground. This two-storey stone building is the last remaining structure of Stanley Barracks, once the main military establishment for the Toronto Garrison. In this episode, Dr. Aldona Sendzikas is for pondering over the amazing history of Toronto's Military garrison.

Dr. Sendzikas is an Associate Professor in the History Department at Western University, where she teaches 20th century U.S. History, Military History, and American Studies. She is the former Assistant Curator of Historic Fort York in Toronto, and former curator of the WWII submarines USS Bowfin (SS-287) at Pearl Harbor and USS Pampanito (SS-393) in San Francisco. She is the author of Lucky 73: USS Pampanito's Unlikely Rescue of Allied POWs in WWII, and Stanley Barracks: Toronto's Military Legacy.

Contributors:

Mark Vogelsang
Aldona Sendzikas
Georgiana Stanciu
The Royal Canadian Regiment Museum

Season 1, Episode 6

For episode 6 of the RCRM Speakers Series, we have invited Captain (ret'd) Michael O'Leary to share his experience as a researcher of... all things RCR!

Michael O'Leary is well known by the larger regimental circles across the country, but also by the local community, especially The Royal Canadian Regiment Museum, where he volunteers for many years. He served 40 years in the Canadian Forces, with the Princess Louise Fusiliers and The Royal Canadian Regiment. He published in the Infantry Journal, the Army Doctrine and Training Bulletin, and Pro Patria, the regimental journal of The RCR. In his published work, Michael has explored many facets of the infantry and the military history, but he maintains a central focus on researching The Royal Canadian Regiment.

In 2015, he was awarded the Sovereign's Medal for Volunteers for his work on researching First World War soldiers and for sharing his work with the Canadian public through the website "The Regimental Rogue." On this website, Michael has collected, displayed and wrote about a variety of military topics. He is also a collector of badges and medals to The RCR, which allowed for continuing his research on the Regiment and expand upon his understanding of soldiers' experiences. Michael lives in London with his wife, Reverend Laurie, and they have three children and three grandchildren.

Contributors:

Mark Vogelsang
Michael O'Leary
Georgiana Stanciu
The Royal Canadian Regiment Museum

Season 1, Episode 5

Between 1939 and 1945, the Air Force saw greater expansion in Canada in comparison with the Army or the Navy. With over 200,000 men and 17,000 women enlisted, 39 RCAF Squadrons at home and No. 6 RCAF Group with RAF Bomber Command, the RCAF became the fourth-largest air force in the world. There are many components to this unprecedented expansion, but one of them in particular has attracted Michael Baker's attention: the British Commonwealth Training Plan.

A graduate of University of Western Ontario with degrees in history and education, Michael Baker is the Manager of Museums and Archives for the County of Elgin. Michael is well known to the regional historians as the Collections Curator at Fanshawe Pioneer Village, and the Curator of Regional History at Museum London, but also as the editor of Downtown London: Layers of Time (1999) and the co-editor with Hilary Bates Neary, of 100 Fascinating Londoners and Street Names of London - An Illustrated Guide, both published by James Lorimer of Canada. He is a former president of the London Branch of the Architectural Conservancy of Ontario and of the Heritage London Foundation and a past President of the Elgin Historical Society.

Contributors:

Mark Vogelsang
Michael Baker
Georgiana Stanciu
The Royal Canadian Regiment Museum

Season 1, Episode 4

This episode of the RCRM Speakers Series will explore the little-known role of Canadian soldiers in the liberation of Nazi concentration and transit camps.

In spring 1945, First Canadian Army was working to liberate the Netherlands from German occupiers. Here, they discovered Nazi camps and the Holocaust survivors left abandoned within them. After coming upon the camps, Canadian soldiers moved from a position of combat to providing humanitarian relief assistance. Soldiers dealt with challenges that six years of war had not prepared them to face such as the logistical issues of securing essential supplies necessary to combat mass famine, malnourishment, and disease as well as longer-term issues like the repatriation of the survivors.

The discovery of the Nazi camps across Europe forever changed the meaning of the Second World War for Canadians as a conflict not only about preventing Nazi world domination but also providing relief and rehabilitation for their millions of victims. As Royal Canadian Air Force Flight Lieutenant T.S. Byrne explained, liberation was "Why we fought World War II."

We have invited a Doctoral candidate in History at the University of Western Ontario to share the discoveries of her research on the topic of Canadians' work in liberating the Netherlands from the German occupiers. Her name is Sara Poulin, she completed her BA in History at King's University College in 2014 and her MA in History at the University of Western Ontario in 2016. Her research focuses on Canada's role in the liberation of Nazi Concentration Camps at the end of the Second World War and how the legacy of that action shaped Canadian understanding of the Second World War and the country's position in the postwar order.

Contributors:

Mark Vogelsang
Sara Poulin
Georgiana Stanciu
The Royal Canadian Regiment Museum

Season 1, Episode 3

During the 6 years of the Second World War, the Allied planned and conducted many operations, on land, in the air and at sea. Many of these operations continue to make news front page even today, others tend to be forgotten or overshadowed by the course of subsequent events, as is the case of Operation Husky. This episode of the RCRM Speakers Series will provide an informative account not only on the the Army's landing in Sicily, but mostly on how the Air Force supported this operation.

Alexander Fitzgerald Black has an MA in Military History from the University of New Brunswick and another MA in Public History from the University of Western Ontario. He presently works as a historian with the Juno Beach Centre Association.

Contributors:

Mark Vogelsang
Georgiana Stanciu
The Royal Canadian Regiment Museum
Alexander Fitzgerald Black

Season 1, Episode 2

After the Battle of Paardeberg (18-27 Feb 1900), a Canadian Methodist preacher said "Not the greed of conquest, but native valour, the struggle for civilization, and the love of Motherland were in the fire in their souls that day." Professor Gordon Heath added this quote to today's title which also reads "Canadian Protestant Rhetoric and the War in South Africa."

Heath will examine how the churches wrote and preached about the imperial cause in South Africa, following the general argument of his book, "A War with a Silver Lining" (published in 2009). This conflict may be forgotten today, but as Professor Heath will reveal, 120 years ago it was making front page in the news. In the following years, up to the 1920s, Paardeberg Day on 27 Feb was the designated day for Canadians to honour Veterans and remember sacrifices.

Contibutors:

Mark Vogelsang
Georgiana Stanciu
Gordon Heath
The Royal Canadian Regiment Museum

Season 1, Episode 1

A compelling testimonial on fiction versus reality in movie industry and popular culture using the real story of RAF men escaping the POW Stalag Luft III during the Second World War and John Sturges' movie The Great Escape.

Contributors:

Jonathan Vance
Mark Vogelsang
Georgiana Stanciu